Quarley Parish Council Minutes - 8th May 2019

Minutes of the Quarley Parish Council Meeting held on Wednesday 8th May 2019 at Quarley Village Hall at 7.30 pm.

WELCOME.
The Chairman welcomed everyone to the meeting.

MEMBER OF THE PUBLIC.
Mrs J Venables stated that she felt that the Parish Council are not fulfilling their obligation to be open and transparent. Information is not made readily available to the Parish; the Web Site is out of date and often the Notice Board is displaying old minutes. 

This was discussed at length:
·         The Clerk will make sure that the minutes are posted on the Village Notice Board and put on the Web Site.
·         The Web Site will be brought up to date.
·         A Newsletter will be produced up-dating the Parish on various issued including the £10,000 grant form the Solar Farm.
·         The will Clerk will add residents to the emailing list if they sign a Data Protection Form – details will be included in the Newsletter.
·         The Parish Council had looked at having a Village Facebook Page but on investigation it was not as easy to run as had been expected. 

DECLARATION OF OFFICE.
The Parish Councillors signed the Declaration of Office.  

DECLARATION OF INTEREST
The Parish Councillors signed the Declaration of Interest Forms.
Cllr Mrs J Ferguson declared an interest in Quarley Church.

ELECTION OF CHAIRMAN AND VICE CHAIRMAN.
CHAIRMAN – Cllr Mr N Constable proposed Cllr Mrs J Ferguson as Chairman; this was seconded by Cllr Mr W Marshall. There were no other nominations. All agreed. Cllr Mrs J Ferguson was elected Chairman. 

VICE CHAIRMAN – Cllr Mrs J Ferguson proposed Cllr Mr W Marshall as Vice Chairman; this was seconded by Cllr Mr N Constable. There were no other nominations. All agreed. Cllr Mr W Marshall was elected Vice Chairman. 

CHAIRMAN’S REPORT.CHAIRMAN’S REPORT.
The main event of the past year was the notification from Test Valley Borough Council of the 10-yearly discussion on Parish Boundaries.
The Residents of 2 areas were contacted.

1. Area M. so named by Test Valley Borough Council: - Area M: the residents of the land to the right of Cholderton Lane, were contacted to enquire if they wished to remain in the Parish of Amport or change to the Parish of Quarley. As the answer was, that they wished to become part of Quarley Parish, TVBC was contacted with that information.
2. The 2 houses, mainly in Quarley Parish, but very close to the village of Grateley, were also consulted, as to their wishes, in view of the fact that the boundary ran through their houses. We were informed that they considered themselves to be Grateley. This information was also given to TVBC, with our recommendation that they should be transferred to Grateley Parish.

The Borough Councillors voted on these proposals: -
No 1, The Borough Councillors voted that the Area M should remain in Amport Parish.
No 2, The Borough Councillors voted that these 2 houses should become part of Grateley Parish.

Highways
We have contacted Hampshire County Council's Highways on numerous occasions in relation to the state of the roads and the problem with the corner of the Green by the Village Hall, which is being gradually eroded by HGVs. The 2 drains are now more than half a metre into the road, whereas they originally abutted the edge of the Green. Behind these drains, the land is now lower than the drains and so drainage is no longer effective

We have asked that approximately 2 metres of concrete kerb be placed curving around the edge, once again abutting the drains, and that the space between the eroded edge and the kerb be refilled.

The initial reaction was negative, but we have re-requested that the work be carried out.

With the exception of the road between Lains Farm and the old A303, which is still, despite being patched in a poor condition, the other repairs are an improvement. The road to Grateley, with the exception of the corner by Quarley Manor Farm, is now in better condition; work has been carried out to the Cholderton Road, and the recent repairs to Skew Lane, are also much improved.

Payment
Quarley Parish Council has now received the £ 10,000.00 from the Solar Farm Company.

Play Area
In view of the number of small children now living in Quarley, it has been decided that we should reconsider the Children's Play Area, to be situated towards the back of the Green, to the left of the Village Hall. The Play Areas is to be in keeping with the rural aspect of the area.

END OF YEAR FINANCIAL REPORT.
The Clerk produced the end of year accounts and explained each item.

                                            QUARLEY PARISH COUNCIL
   RECEIPTS AND PAYMENTS ACCOUNT FOR THE YEAR ENDING 31^ST MARCH 2019
     2017/2018                                                                                 2018/2019
           £                                      RECEIPTS                                            £
       2600.00            Precept Test Valley Borough Council         2,850.00
TVBC Grant                          1,000.00
Solar Farm Grant                 10,000.00
2,600.0013,850.00

PAYMENTS
        661.00          Administration                                     778.61
        600.00          Clerks Wages                                      600.00
        280.00          Village Maintenance                              440.00
        205.22          Street Lighting                                    142.74
        200.00          Section 137 Payments  (Church)            250.00
         49.82          VAT on Payments                                  74.94
        507.96          Insurance                                          578.28
2,504.002,864.57

RECEIPTS AND PAYMENTS SUMMARY

2,520.32    13,505.75

REPRESENTED BY FUNDS
      2,520.32          Bank Account 80686506 – 31/3/2019 13,505.75                                                                         
2,520.3213,505.75

ANNUAL GOVERNANCE STATEMENT 2018/2019
The Clerk read out the Annual Governance Statement 2018/2019 ensuring that there is a sound system of internal control, including arrangements for the preparation of the Accounting Statement. The Annual Governance Statement was approved by the Parish Council. Proposed by Cllr Mrs J Ferguson and seconded by Cllr Mr W Marshall. The Chairman and the Clerk signed the relevant paperwork.

MINUTES OF THE PREVIOUS MEETING.
The Chairman signed the minutes of the previous meeting as a true record. Matters arising from those minutes: -

HIGHWAYS –Highways have been back and done a better job of the Quarley end of Skew Road.

The Chairman reported that she has written to Tim Lawton at Hampshire Highways about the various other highway repairs that need to be undertaken including the erosion on the corner of the Green by the Village Hall.

Mr Tim Lawton has replied:
Unfortunately, verge erosion is something that is being experienced in many different areas around the county and if we were to deal with every location where this happens, we would be treating most rural roads. In this instance kerbing is not an option.

I would suggest that in the first instance a white line is painted on the inside of the bend to encourage vehicles to move away from the road edge and the area behind the carriageway be backfilled to remove the low point that is puddling after rainfall: we will then monitor the situation. I will therefore arrange for an order to be raised for this work to be carried out.

County Councillor Mrs Z Brooks had been kept in the loop and has agreed to re-quest a 2 metre concrete kerb be put in place around the eroded village green. We wait a reply. 

DEFIBRILLATOR - The Chairman reported that she has spoken to the Quarley Village Hall regarding the siting of a Defibrillator and is still waiting for an answer. 

PLAY EQUIPMENT – The Clerk has started receiving play equipment brochures to give some idea of the cost of Play Equipment. The Clerk was confident that the Parish Council could also obtain grants towards a play area project. TVBC have a Capital Grant that provides match funding. 

BOROUGH COUNCILLOR
The Chairman reported that Cllr Mr Ben Few Brown did not get elected in the Borough Elections,loosing by one vote. Quarley Parish Council would like to thank Ben Few-Brown for all that he did during his time as our Borough Councillor.

PARISH COUNCILLORS REPORTS
There were no issues raised by the Parish Councillors.

MEMBERS OF THE PUBLIC
Concerns that a Play Area is being forced on the village were raised. Concerns that a play area would bring in other people form neighbouring villages was also mentioned. 

The Chairman stated that this was not the case, the Parish Council following a request from some parishioners agreed to investigate the cost of a play equipment and to enquire if the Village hall Trustees would agree to it being placed on their land. Once this has been investigated it will be put to the village for approval. 

The Parish Council were asked why the £10,000 received from the Solar Farm could not be used to make the Village Hall look more attractive or to finance the purchase of a flashing speed reminder sign to help slow down traffic through the village. 

The Chairman stated that unfortunately the Village Hall does not belong to the Parish Council. A Flashing Speed sign is an option the Parish Council could investigate. 

A Village Survey on what the Parish would like to see funding spent on was carried out in 2006. A Play Area was not high on the list. In 2006 there were few children in the parish, this has now changed and there are more families with children. The Chairman undertook to find out how many. 

CLOSE OF THE MEETING
The Chairman thanked everyone for coming and closed the meeting.  

DATE OF THE NEXT MEETING  
25^th June 2019.